Womanity Foundation’s commitment to women’s empowerment: 2018 By Rafia Qureshi, Director, Womanity The last 12 months brought about many remarkable movements, from #MeToo and #Timesup through to the global Women’s March. No doubt these were a result of huge negative setbacks in society,...

Giving Tuesday. Help Womanity end violence against women Thanks so much for your generosity on Giving Tuesday, we’ve extended our match funding campaign for two weeks to help make gifts made in the holiday season more valuable than ever. This year on #GivingTuesday, Womanity...

Welcome the new WomenChangeMakers Fellows The flagship program, which helps social entrepreneurs become a catalyst for large-scale social change for women and girls, has selected four social enterprises to join the WomenChangeMakers (WCM) Fellowship in India and Brazil. Following a high number of nominations...

“To build your movement: grow awareness, increase knowledge and co-create tools” As winners of the second Womanity Award with Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Mexican based Luchadoras and Sandía Digital are coordinating a new entity called Siemprevivas , the new name for the...

WOMEN’S DAY: AURELIA OVAN, QUIET FORCE AND WOMANITY’S PILLAR … Womanity: Who are you, Aurelia, and what made you work for Womanity? Aurélia Ovan: I have a Master in sociology and have worked for the Womanity Foundation almost since its creation. I am an...

Valentina Di Felice – Women’s Day Valentina is Womanity’s Head of Operations. Since 2010, she has contributed to design, shape and supervise the foundation’s media programs in the MENA region and the educational program in Afghanistan. Since 2016, she has been involved in designing...

TIANA VILAR LINS – WOMEN’S DAY Tiana Vilar Lins joined Womanity in 2014 and runs its WomenChangemakers Program in Brazil, helping social entrepreneurs to become catalysts of social and systemic change, by empowering women within their communities. Womanity: Who are you Tiana? Tiana Vilar...

My experience as a Technical Supervisor of The Womanity Foundations’ ” Girls Can Code” Program By A.K. Azizi, IT Expert, consultant and lecturer Every year, many bright girls graduate from high schools with good scores and, while many compete to entry University to secure...

Why we need women in tech by Antonella Notari Vischer, Valentina Di Felice and Servane Mouazan To increase cross-sectoral productivity we must unleash the potential of girls and women in technology, science and math. Or regress. Digital technologies and big data analysis are...

Celebrate with us The International Women’s Day! We are Bold For Change In the past 11 years, Womanity has developed innovative approaches that empower women and girls to become active contributors of their society. Investing in women helps them to attain their own –...

Women’s Day – Women empowerment models Indrani Sharma joined the Womanity family at the end of 2012 to manage the WomenChangeMakers Program in India. She brought with her 12 years of learning in the social entrepreneurship and economic empowerment sector, working with pioneering organizations...

Shruti Kapoor is a gender equality activist, economist and social entrepreneur who is passionate about girls and women’s safety. During this #ICTforWomanity series interview, we talked with Shruti about crowdsourcing and neighborhood mobilization and how they are a force for good against gender based...

Asmaa Guedira – Women’s Day Asmaa Guedira is Womanity’s Be 100 Ragl’s Program Manager. As a Moroccan-French, free(lance) digital nomad, Asmaa creates synergies in the areas of gender, collaborative innovation and social entrepreneurship, between Europe, Brazil, the Middle East and Africa, mainly through writing,...

Women’s day – Educating girls in Afghanistan Noori is Womanity Foundation’s country representative in Afghanistan, heading the AGEA program (Advancing Girls’ Education in Afghanistan). We call it “School in a box”. In this interview, Noori explains why the program focuses on girls’ education. The...

Women’s Day: Servane Mouazan, women’s advocate Servane is closely supporting the Womanity Award winners Abaad, Promundo, Luchadoras and APC, in their efforts to prevent violence against women. Womanity: Who are you Servane and how did you come to collaborate with Womanity? Servane Mouazan: I...

Women everywhere are still struggling to reach economic autonomy, even if they work longer hours than men when we consider unpaid and informal work; they are still paid less than men for the same jobs, globally; they are underrepresented in political, corporate and academic...

Give! The philanthropist motto By Yann Borgstedt, philanthropist, founder and chairman of the Womanity Foundation What does the word ‘give’ mean to you? Is it extending kindness to another, donating money to a good cause or offering your time and skills to help someone?...

As part of a joint campaign with Wikigender organised for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (2016), Womanity co-hosted an online discussion on ”Combatting online violence against women and girls”. The online discussion concluded with a lively and informative webinar, which you can enjoy below,...

Online violence safety tips Sara Baker, global coordinator for the Take Back The Tech Campaign, shares with us a rich list of safety roadmaps, research references and toolkits to respond to online violence, protect yourself online and assist others who might need support. When...

Meet Afghanistan’s female coders who are defying gender stereotypes by Kirstie Brewer, The Guardian contributor In a country where just 16% of the workforce is female, teaching women to code can help foster greater equality, empowerment and economic stability. In the city of Herat...

Women’s groups or organizations working on gender based violence need simple yet efficient tools to measure their impact and improve their processes. As part of our ICTforWomanity series, Womanity interviews Gillian Javetski, Director of Partner Engagement at Dimagi – a social enterprise primarily known...

By Antonella Notari Vischer You can find the original article on the Huffington Post website In the small city of Canoas, Brazil, where gender stereotypes are deeply ingrained and 15 women a day are killed because of their gender, you’ll find more than 5,000 underprivileged women working...

Estephan “Tino” Bechara is a young man working with the Red Cross in Lebanon as a Youth and Health Trainer. He participated in the first validation workshop of Programme Ra with other young men. In July 2016, Lebanese NGO ABAAD–Resource Center for Gender Equality and Promundo...

How to address the causes of domestic violence in Lebanon In July 2016, Lebanese NGO ABAAD–Resource Center for Gender Equality and Promundo launched Programme Ra in Beirut with support from the Womanity Foundation’s first-ever Womanity Award. Hussein Safwan provides psychosocial support services as part of ABAAD’s Women and Girls Safe Spaces...

In July 2016, Lebanese NGO ABAAD–Resource Center for Gender Equality and Promundo launched Programme Ra in Beirut with support from the Womanity Foundation’s first-ever Womanity Award. The program, adapted from Promundo’s flagship Program H, encourages men and boys to challenge gender-based stereotypes, question traditional...

By Claudia Cahalane and Antonella Notari Vischer A short version of this blog was published on 26 September 2016 on the Economist Intelligence Unit More people in the developing world have access to digital technologies than ever before According to the World Bank, the...

Promundo is proud to announce their new partnership with AXE to bring a message of positive, healthy, supportive manhood to more than half a million boys and men. You may be familiar with the Axe brand, but what you may not know is that...

By Andrew Milner and Charles Keidan You can find the original article on the Alliance magazine website (Volume 21 Number 3 September 2016) The Financial Times noted in 2012 that ‘in less than a decade, philanthropy offices have become an integral part of the world’s largest...

Research has repeatedly demonstrated that empowering girls and women significantly accelerates progress in developing economies, and that by nurturing women’s education, entrepreneurial spirit and leadership, whole communities thrive. So how can philanthropy and the socio-economic development sector invest in women in a meaningful manner,...

“Women are changing the conversation about harassment, and this is a big deal” “I was 11 and a guy riding a bicycle came by and squeezed my breast. A woman on the street blamed me for wearing that blouse.” This was just one of...

BY KATIE DUPERE You can find the original article on the Mashable website Inside a hot-pink classroom glowing with sunlight, 20 teen girls sit at refurbished desktop computers, tapping at their keyboards with laser focus. They’re all coding — and it’s a rare scene, considering the gender...

You can find the original article on the Philanthropy Impact website The content of this story is based on an interview with successful entrepreneur turned philanthropist Yann Borgstedt, Founder and President of The Womanity Foundation, by Safeena Husain, Founder and Director of one of the Foundation’s most...

Take Back The Tech! Technology responds to violence against women The Take Back The Tech! (TBTT) is a collaborative campaign to reclaim information and communication technology (ICT) to end violence against women. TBTT along with Luchadoras and La Sandía Digital from Mexico, recently won...

Chayn Empower Women Against Violence and Oppression. We are talking this week to Hera Hussain, founder of Chayn.co, a global platform that empowers women against violence and oppression. Chayn means “Solace”, “Peace” in Urdu. Chayn is also an award-winning, open-source project that leverages technology...

By Antonella Notari Vischer You can find the original article on The Economist website The undeveloped capabilities of women hold huge promise for global businesses The woes of the global economy are not only due to instability, but also because businesses are inadvertently not engaging with nearly half...

Fiction that empowers women It’s not the first thing you might think of when it comes to empowering women and tackling violence against women. But ‘edutainment’ – fiction which tackles social issues – is surprisingly powerful in changing deep-rooted mindsets and gender norms. Which...

News media and Feminism in India This week the ICTforWomanity network takes us to India to discover Japleen Pasricha, a young feminist activist based in New Delhi. Japleen runs India’s first crowdsourced, and award-winning digital intersectional feminist platform – Feminism in India, which amplifies...

The ICTforWomanity interview series focuses this week on video production. To cover this area, we are meeting with Amie Williams, an award winning producer/director specializing in documentary film and video for television. Amie is the Executive Director & Co-Founder of GlobalGirl Media (GGM), an...

“I had so much, I had to give back” Womanity President Yann Borgstedt has been awarded the 2016 BNP Paribas prize for Individual Philanthropy. Here, he explains the Foundation’s work, how being a champion for women makes business sense, and his innovative approach to...

This week, Womanity Award Manager Servane Mouazan interviews Ceri Hayes, director at GenderMatters. Ceri shares what ICT based organisations need to think about when developing programmes that seek to prevent violence against women. SM: Ceri, what do you specialise in and how does gender...

By Claudia Cahalane. In a scenario which sounds like it’s been plucked straight out of Grand Theft Auto, the online game BREAKAWAY culminates with a girl being abducted, forced into a locker and left there after persistent bullying and abuse. The game is not...

by Claudia Cahalane Nataly works for a women’s rights organisation in the Caucasus, on the border of Europe and Asia. The organisation provides services and safe spaces for women in troubled situations. It also campaigns against gender-based violence. Knowing that the web was becoming...

by Claudia Cahalane. A Somalian NGO is hoping technology will help women be safer in their homes, where domestic violence is often accepted as the norm Dahrio, a mother of three, lives in a camp for internally displaced people in Mogadishu, Somalia. Her community...

by Claudia Cahalane. At the end of 2014, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were all given an ‘F’ grade for the way they dealt with – or rather, didn’t deal with – online violence against women. This included sexism, abusive language, even death threats. The...

This week, as part of our #ICTforWomanity interview series, Womanity talks to Elsa DSilva, the Founder and Managing Director of the India based Red Dot Foundation, the creators of Safecity. Safecity aims to make public spaces safer and equally accessible to all through crowdsourced...

Elizabeth Rector is The Womanity Foundation program leader for Girls Can Code in Afghanistan, teaching high school students to code. The project, implemented in two of Kabul’s biggest girls schools, launches in April 2016. For most of my business career, my aspirations have shifted...

As part of our ICTforWomanity interviews, we talked to Jessica Ladd, founder of Callisto. A victim of sexual assault herself, Jessica Ladd says it’s time to change the outdated response to rape and assault – especially on college campuses – where most survivors do...

As part of our ICTforWomanity interviews, we talked to Esther Marshall, founder of sTandTall, an initiative that helps women and girls who have been abused or bullied get back on their feet. When Esther Marshall was younger, she thought she had found someone who...

Nighat Dad, Executive Director of Digital Rights Foundation based in Pakistan, answers our questions about online harassment, a growing form of violence against women. Nighat defines herself as a lawyer and activist, someone who fights harassment, sexism, misogyny, and gender inequality everyday. Womanity: What does the Digital Rights Foundation...

What does it take for men and boys to reflect about manhood? In the past decades, many women’s rights advocates have learnt that improving the health and wellbeing of adult and young women also requires engaging men, adult and young. Program H is an...

This week, Womanity Award winners Promundo shared they were “humbled to be mentioned in TIME’s cover story “The Secret War Crime”, written by Aryn Baker. Against a background of horrific and widespread sexual violence in conflict, Baker narrates the stories of victims and survivors...

Article from Thompson Reuters Foundation by Antonella Notari Vischer. Girls attend a class at their school in a village outside Yemen’s capital Sanaa February 2, 2016. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah. A girl’s emancipation starts with being able – and permitted – to envision a strong, meaningful role for...

Womanity Founder Yann Borgstedt on how tech can help empower women and combat violence against women. How can technology be used to protect women? It’s a relatively simple question but the answer is increasingly complicated. Mobile and online communications not only provide solutions to...

Starting a women’s radio station for the Arab world might have seemed ambitious. But nearly six years on, it’s going from strength to strength. Radio Nissa founder Maysoun Odeh Gangat shares the story behind the ground-breaking radio station, created as a joint initiative with...

What is One Billion Rising? One Billion Rising is the biggest mass action to end violence against women in human history. The campaign, launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women...

ALGIERS, Algeria — A new Algerian law came into effect this week punishing violence against women and sexual harassment, in a victory for feminist groups that had fought for years for the legislation. The law, effective from Monday February 8th, had been blocked by...

We don’t talk about sexual abuse enough. That’s not ok. The inaugural Awareness Week has been established to give an opportunity for the general public, statutory and third sector organisations to participate in a discussion about sexual abuse and sexual violence. During the week...

A recently published BBC article on the role of feminism in mainstream media illustrates the role that media can play in both creating meaningful content and affecting real, social change for gender equality, by exploring the example of Egypt and incidences of media influencing...

You may be sick of feminism or dislike the influence of technology but without them ordinary women would see very little justice in a world still run by men. Some of you may recall BBC Newsnight trending on Twitter after a documentary...

refinery29: As a candidate for prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau pledged that he would appoint women to serve in half of his cabinet seats. On Wednesday, shortly after he was sworn in as Canada’s second-youngest prime minister ever, the self-described feminist followed through...

Following up on the amazing work initiated by Promundo and their network…: MenCare launched the State of the World’s Fathers (SOWF) report in June 2015 in 10 cities around the world, and the report as a global advocacy tool has already begun to see...

The Womanity Foundation is proud to announce its two newly selected WomenChangeMakers (WCM) India Fellows and one WCM Associate Fellow after last month’s thorough selection process. Based on the jury’s recommendations, the Womanity Foundation is welcoming the following two WCM Fellows and a WCM...

Article originally published in GOOD Sustainable Development Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. Activist and technologist Hera Hussain does not have a lot of...

Ask any of her staff and they will tell you that Ghida Anani is a mission-driven social entrepreneur, a strategic thinker, and a leader who knows how to encourage and challenge her team. Beyond her network of supporters, however, Anani is often the subject...

leanin: An amazing speech from an amazing woman: “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” –Viola Davis ‪#‎Emmys2015‬

thefeministme: 8 Most Feminist Quotes From This Week In The News "As we celebrate 95 years since the certification of the 19th Amendment, let us demonstrate our commitment to the belief that we are all entitled to equal treatment by supporting policies that help...

This week we interview Sara Baker, global coordinator of Take Back the Tech!Take Back the Tech! is a campaign of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) Q: How did Take Back the Tech! get started and how has it evolved? APC has a women’s...

Abby and Kyalu were abducted by a rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2008. Abby was forced to do hard labor for the rebels. Kyalu, his wife, was raped, and had a child as a result. Once Abby was...

Men Who Harass Women Online are Quite Literally Losers, New Study Finds bitch-media: A new study has affirmed what we’ve always known about bullies: They are losers themselves. The study found that men were more likely to harass female gamers when their skill level was...

Saying yes on camera now equates to saying yes to everything that happens to you after that, and an off-camera ‘no’ won’t hold up against the ‘yes’ played at your assailant’s disciplinary hearing. But Do We Need an App for That? The New Trend...

safetipin: Some startups in India are focusing on remedying the country’s severe problem with gender-based violence. While sexual assault is a systemic problem on a global scale, it is a particularly abhorrent one in India with a rape occurring every 20 minutes. As disturbing...

safetipin: The District Department of Government, the Department of Mobility, Transmilenio and the District Department of Women reject forcefully and emphatically the sexual assault case that was filed against a host of Integrated Public Transport System SITP, Thursday night 23 July, as she was...

If you think women in tech is just a pipeline problem, you haven’t been paying attention saintpolar: Here is a sampling of just a few of the studies on unconscious gender bias: Investors preferred entrepreneurial ventures pitched by a man than an identical pitch...

feminismwecandoit: “I call myself a feminist. Isn’t that what you call someone who fights for women’s rights?” – Dalai Lama Yes Dalai Lama, you’re totally right! I hope more people will be like Dalai Lama.

Piece by Hera Hussain originally published in ICTworks “Technology is a key piece in preventing and ending violence against women. As the number of women with access to the internet and internet-enabled devices increases, so does the potential for social impact of “tech for...

Maysoun Odeh Gangat, Managing director of Radio Nisaa, awardee of the Schwab award for social entrepreneurs, recently received a scholarship to attend a management course at the Harvard business school. Maysoun gives Womanity a short insight on her experience at Harvard: “As a Schwab...

This year, Womanity celebrates a decade of innovation, collaboration, and learning for women and girls’ empowerment around the world. We are proud to work alongside others to incubate, grow and replicate models, which are allowing women, girls, men and boys to contribute to a...

unicef: “Since last year I’m attending adult education so I can help children with reading and writing and encourage other mothers”. Meet everyday hero Beda Anakur, Coordinator of a UNICEF-supported mother-teacher association in Mongo, Chad. Her hard work is helping improve education for all...

By Hera Hussain. “Tara is a 26 year old aspiring computer engineer based in Oman. She has always excelled at her classes, exams, internships and appears to live a normal life. But what no one knows is that when at home, Tara is battling...

Taking an Intersectional Approach to Online Violence The following by Womanity Foundation founder Yann Borgstedt originally appeared on The Huffington Post. You can read the piece in its entirety here. Why do we call women’s issues “women’s issues”? So much of the inequality and...

npr: Elynn Walter is an activist whose mission is to improve hygiene in low-income countries. She works with the group WASH Advocates (WASH stands for “water, sanitation and hygiene”). Her issue is critical: Across the developing world, tens of millions of girls face major...

safetipin: UN project, a map-based mobile safety app, is one of thousands rolled out globally in bid to stem cases of rape, sexual harassment and molestation in urban areas A girl walking along a street as she returns home after attending madrasa class, or...

micdotcom: Happy Birthday Angie! Thanks for all the badass feminist wisdom. Few celebrities have leveraged their platform to empower others like her. Jolie’s quote about cancer and taking back control of your health was just as on point.

united-nations: Meet Isha Johansen,the first female President of Sierra Leone’s Football Association, currently the only female Football Association President in the world – and a household name in Sierra Leone. UN Women profiles the gender equality champion: http://j.mp/1QtT9M5

saxifraga-x-urbium: A list of female chiefs of government of Independent States and Self-ruling Territories from the 20th century A list of female Nobel Prize laureates A list of women CEOS of the Fortune 500 A list of Olympic Medalists (women)

united-nations: In June, UN Women focuses on the impact of armed conflict on women, and the changes that can take place when women have a central role in peacebuilding. Though women are seated at the negotiation table at least half of the time, conflict...

united-nations: The United Nations turns 70 this year – that’s 70 years promoting equality. From peacekeeping to promoting equality to protecting children, this year we’re highlighting the ways the UN has been making a difference since 1945 – and how it continues to help...

To temper war and conflict, empower women united-nations: “To temper war and conflict, empower women.” Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, discusses women and armed conflict.

oguntewomen: “How To Build Your Own Domestic Violence Case Without A Lawyer”. The free, open source guide has been designed as an easy-to-understand tool to help women suffering abuse around the world to build a strong cases against their perpetrators when legal counsel is...

safetipin: The rapid pace and nature of urbanization taking place throughout the world has thrown up new challenges for governments, and their populations as well as social scientists and activists. Urban spaces provide new opportunities for people to build their homes and lives, but...

scienceyoucanlove: Meet The Group of Young Female Coders Who Developed A Yelp-Like Safety App By Julie Zeilinger If you’ve ever used your phone to find the best burger closest to your job, a new app developed by a group of young female coders might...

News channels are bringing us bleak stories. From terrorism to train derailments, from earthquakes to economic downturns, we have come to associate television, radio, print and social media with messengers of bad news. Moreover, movies, TV series, virtual games and social media are too...

By Yann Borgstedt This piece originally appeared in The Huffington Post Around the world, men are building a network of leaders fighting for women’s equality and we need more of them. Think about the women’s movement in its early years and you see black...

BY YANN BORGSTEDT (HUFFINGTON POST, 7 JUNE 2015) Around the world, men are building a network of leaders fighting for women’s equality and we need more of them. Think about the women’s movement in its early years and you see black and white images...

A future without violence against women seems too good to be true. Imagine a world in which women and girls do not live in fear of harm, discrimination or the limits of gendered expectations. A world in which men and boys are also not...

During the month of December until May, Radio NISAA FM aired a weekly show called Key to Judiciary (Miftah Al Qada). NISAA FM’s presenter Raya Hamdam and co-presenter, lawyer Ahlam Daraghmeh discussed, debated and engaged listeners across the Palestinian Territories on how the law...

One in three women will experience violence in her lifetime. So much time, talent, and effort have been committed to changing this terrible statistic, to recognizing the life and humanity in each one of those women. Sustainable change is dependent on reshaping our global...

By Yann Borgstedt and Antonella Notari Vischer As published on Huffington Post 04/24/2015 (www.huffingtonpost.com/yann-borgstedt/its-all-in-the-connection_b_7135054.html?1429879201) Men and women need to join forces on a mission to connect women to the world. For decades we have heard about gender disparities in every field from economics to...

In 2015, the Womanity Foundation turns ten. Yann Borgstedt, Founder and President explains how everyone can play a part in the empowerment of women and girls. “This year we celebrate a decade of passionate, creative and innovative work; ten years of learning, exploring and...

Whenever I ask women in Afghanistan, Brazil, India andPalestine what they wish for above all, they mostly reply: “peace andsafety”. If we have peace, we can build all else upon it, bit by bit, together. But here we are, surrounded by violence – at...

The Oak Tree and the Reeds. Thriving in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. By Antonella Notari Vischer, Executive Director, The Womanity Foundation At times, our world feels like it is shaken by furious, uncontrollable storms: crises strike suddenly and throw many to...

The WomanityFoundation enters the 2015 Top 500 NGOs ranking. Yann Borgstedt, founder andchairman, tells us what he believes makes for a stellar social developmentorganisation. “In January 2015, Womanity entered the Top 500 NGOs as devised by Global_Geneva. The ranking identifies social development and humanitarian...

Bonjour/Bonne Nuit Monday! natawithwomanity: I gotta say, the last few days have really turned things around for me. Coming out of a very hectic time last week, I am now feeling much better and in turn more focused than ever to develop a great...

Not every day does one meet a woman you can call “worth 100 men”, a woman who has courageously refuted society’s expectations and stereotypes in order to realize her personal passions, dreams and goals. And when you do, her story is well worth sharing...

Women are born free and equal! @Panmela Castro with some of her militant art work, in #Rio de Janeiro. Her NGO @Rede Nami holds workshops with young people to advocate for women’t rights and the prevention of violence against women, by using street art....

Panmela Castro and Yann Borgstedt in Rio de Janeiro posing before a graffiti wall in Catete. Panmela uses graffiti to advocate for women’s right to respect and freedom, through the work of her NGO Rede Nami. Yann’s foundation Womanity supports the development of her organisation under the WomenChangeMakers...

Worth 100 Men | بمية راجل Telling the story of a women who can to free women who (think they) can’t. Be 100 Ragl now airing on radios across the Middle East and North Africa. More on our blog: b100ragl.com.

This piece by Antonella Notari Vischer was originally published on trust.org Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation. More than one in three women worldwide will be a victim of physical and/or sexual violence in her...

Womanity Award Launch Womanity Award Launch 20 May 2014 4:00 pm UTC Join Us! The Womanity Award Ceremony will stream live at womanity.org on 20 May 2014 The Womanity Foundation is proud to bring together the laureates of the Womanity Award and luminaries working...

By Noora Sharrab, Social Media Coordinator, “Be 100 Ragl”, and Antonella Notari Vischer, Executive Director, The Womanity Foundation Harnessing the power of fiction to talk about social change In Egypt, Iraq, Palestine and Jordan, thousands of listeners daily tune in to their radios these...

Worth 100 Men (Be 100 Ragl) “Fiction can be an engaging, non-confrontational way to set the scene for constructive conversations, even on disturbing issues. We hope that ‘Be 100 Ragl’ can help to enlighten men and women on how to build a more just...

In a culture where women have fewer rights and are the main target of ‘honour killings’, Louisa Peacock interviews the Palestinian woman running Radio Nisaa, the all-female radio station hoping to break down stereotypes by giving local women their say Radio Nisaa: How one...

(…) I am calling on all the men (…), to invest in girls and women: give them an education, train them professionally, give them the opportunity to progress in their careers, allow them to express themselves and to lead. Don’t tolerate their oppression and...

What we’ve demonstrated is that girls and women have the potential to contribute positively to their society, even if it means taking another path than their mothers, aunts and sisters. We allow them to dream of being more than what they see around themselves....

“There is a huge cost for not educating girls to the same level as boys. It is has been estimated that the failure of 65 countries to educate girls to the same standard as boys collectively costs them USD 92 billion every year. One...

In 2005, I had sold one of my businesses and was working on a few other ventures; but I felt that I was missing something. I had benefitted of a good education and was financially successful at a young age. But I was more...

Safeena Husain of @Educate_Girls @TheHub in Zurich today: the program’s impact is measured on drastic improvements of school infrastructure, enrollment, community mobilisation, learning outcomes. http://bit.ly/1aFSjEb

Team Balika, volunteer mentors for girls in underprivileged areas of Rajasthan, are present in all villages where @EducateGirls works. It’s a groundswell of community-based action for girls. http://bit.ly/I4i3kc

Sunita Singh of National Entrepreneurship Network giving a keynote speech on corporate sustainability practices and women’s empowerment, on new ideas and models for strategic alliances between corporations and social development actors.

A Government of India’s recent norm requires all public sector undertakings set aside 2% of profits as funds for social responsibility activities. A similar guideline has been proposed in the amendments to the new Companies’ Bill, where an entire section on CSR has been added....

School in a Box: Advancing Girls’ Education in Afghanistan | Center for Education Innovations The Center for Education Innovations is featuring our girls’ education program in Afghanistan: the model’s value is in its integrated approach where all aspects of the learning and social environment...

Notes from a Conversation: Organisations Using Entertainment to Address Violence against Women |… Some feedback on our conversation with Amy Bank, an expert on the use of edutainment strategies to fight violence against women. This helped us to design Worth100 Men! an Arabic fiction...

WHO | Global and regional estimates of violence against women Violence against women a global health problem of epidemic proportions A report released today, 20th June 2013, developed by the World Health Organization, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the South...

Alarm over scale of abuse of women Released today a report of the WHO and other groups sounds alarm on level of violence against women. Dr. Charlotte Watts, co-author of the report is on the advisory board of the Womanity Award to stop violence...

A look into the studio during the recording of the extraordinary story of Noha, a young radio journalist with a mind and a mission of her own, played my the great Mona Zaki. Worth more than 100 Men or بمية راجل B 100 Ragl is an Arabic...

Women, Action & the Media (WAM) and Everyday Sexism have made huge strides to improve the environment for women and girls on the social web, specifically Facebook. Bravo to them for their innovative campaign and definitive result!

ARABIC-LANGUAGE RADIO FICTION “WORTH 100 MEN” STARRING THE GREAT MONA ZAKI TO BE RELEASED SOON This radio fiction series will bring up women’s role in society and in the work place, domestic violence, corruption and much more. We encourage you to take part in...

The Womanity Foundation (www.womanity.org) and Radio NISAA FM (www.radionisaa.net) are producing an exclusive Arabic radio fiction on the role of women in society to be premiered during the coming month of Ramadan (July-August) throughout the Arab world. Mona Zaki, a leading actress in the...

Afghan female artist beats the odds to invigorate Kandaharâs art scene Charred bodies lie scattered against blood-stained walls and debris covers the ground. The unusual thing in this gruesome scene is that the âbloodâ is red paint, and part of an art installation. Itâs...

Al Fatah school for girls was the first school Womanity supported in Afghanistan. It has 5000 students and over 200 teachers and staff. It’s now among the top 5 schools in the country – and the other 4 are boys’ schools. By Antonella, from...

Today we went with our local Womanity team to two girls’ schools in Paghman province of Afganistan. The schools all got latrines, waterpumps, handwashing stations, but also science labs, libraries, sports equipment. They set up student councils and PTAs with our guidance. This spring,...

Girl students getting a drink of fresh water at Wahdat school in Kabul, Afganistan. The Womanity Foundation installed water pumps, handwashing basins, latrines in this school for 6000 girls. http://bit.ly/11fvsHQ

This young woman in 11th grade in Lycée Malalai in the Panjshir Valley of Northern Afghanistan brought some water from the stream running through the village where she lives and which is used by the population. She was taught how to use the microscope...

I am really happy to be working on such an exciting project. Arab women, although strong by nature, need a lot of support and inspiration to empower themselves to succeed and develop. This story does just that. Mona Zaki (on Womanity’s upcoming radio series)

Mona Zaki will play the voice of the lead character in an upcoming radio show in development by the Womanity Foundation. The show will follow a character through her daily life and work. It aims to create a strong female character that resonates with...

See the full publication here Want to see more of Nisreen (she is the radio announcer in the picture)? See our Facebook photo album here And you can listen live to Radio Nisaa – links from their FB here

Wahdat school for girls in Kabul has 6000 students, almost all girls. Womanity provided clean water and handwashing stations and repaired the latrines. The students were also asked to each bring a tree sapling to plant on the school grounds. They put their names...

Some pictures from the schools Womanity supports in Kabul. The School in the Box model encompasses teacher training, team sports and science class for girls, and community involvement to troubleshoot snags (for example, the community intervened when little boys were teasing little girls...

“Women who have undertaken an educational path are more likely to send their children to school… They can work and contribute to the family income, sharing with their husband the burden of sustaining, economically, the family and improving the quality of their life …” –...

Shamsia Hassani has an amazing story. She is a woman (almost a girl, really) who does street art. About women. In Kabul. What an amazing person. She has done physical works, and also has resorted to layering her art onto digital versions of building...

Chemistry class in Al Fath school for girls in Kabul. The girls are studying hard, using the science lab provided by Womanity. Some want to become doctors. One of them told us she wants to be a pilot. They rock! Antonella from Kabul.

At Al Fatah school for girls in Kabul today, Lucy and I met with the student council representatives. Very eloquent, outspoken and active girls, organising activities around hygiene, school environment, culture and more. As one of the girls said, in perfect English: we are...

Womanity founder Yann at Chime for Change’s wonderful initiative: the Sound of Change concert in London on June 1st, 2013. What a wonderful way to raise the awareness of projects and issues for women and girls worldwide – each concertgoer could donate the...

Discussing our girls’ education program in Afghanistan with our local team. Early marriage still an important factor of drop-out for girls in the rural areas. Our aim is to keep girls in school up to 12th grade and high school graduation. By Antonella

Womanity supports the great initiative of #chimeforchange and #gucci to raise awareness on #womenandgirls through their concert #soundofchange. Here, we spotted them in the Paris subway. Thanks, Chime!

Catapult is having a huge day today – Gucci’s initiative CHIME for Change is holding a massive concert in London, called SoundOfChange. CHIME is built on top of the wonderful Catapult platform, that lets everyone find projects that support and empower women and girls....

Last year, when I visited one of the schools we at Womanity collaborate with, I saw girls playing volleyball on a big dusty Russian-built field, in the blazing sun, with heavy black clothes and scarfs. Running, sweating, laughing, screaming. My dream is to find...